Tag: Daniel Cormier

2015′s first “Photo of the Year” nomination goes to MMAFighting‘s Esther Lin, who captured the demoralizing moment at UFC 182 when Jon Jones palmed Daniel Cormier‘s head at the end of round 4, after taking the former Olympic wrestler down repeatedly. Cormier can barely summon the will to get angry; his spirit had already been broken.

MMA reached its zenith at UFC 182 on Saturday, but if you looked at and listened to the crowd throughout the night you’d have hardly recognized that.

The audience was sparse and half-dead. They’d have done a wave to entertain themselves if the first four fights of the PPV — four decisions featuring unimpressive and sluggish performances — hadn’t already put them to sleep. An incessant stream of “this event sucks” tweets rolled in. This script has played itself out in the past. A card that’s supposed to be the pinnacle of the sport turns out to be a boring, uninteresting, overhyped amalgam of everything wrong with it, only this time we spent an extra $5. It appeared the poor showings, as well as the restless (and partially absent) audience would ruin one of the most anticipated UFC cards in recent memory.

After an abundance of trash talk, a pre-fight press conference brawl, asking pussies if they’re still there, technical breakdowns, and moving betting lines, Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier duked it out for five rounds in an early “Fight of the Year” candidate, which went exactly how most of us thought it would. The main card of UFC 182, however, was pretty putrid.

Our excitement was at an all-time high, which is rare nowadays when it comes to MMA in general. This truly felt like 2008 all over again, but sometimes, we rely on nostalgia to compare upcoming fight cards that may or may not be worth viewing live.

Nevertheless, Jones vs. Cormier lived up to the billing, as both light heavyweights engaged in a dogfight at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, NV., this past Saturday night.

Jon Jones harnessed his inner professional wrestler after defeating Daniel Cormier at UFC 182 — though “defeating” is wording it a bit lightly. Jon Jones outclassed Cormier throughout most of the fight. He even managed to trump the Olympic wrestler in the takedown and clinch-work department throughout the 25-minute ordeal.

But the coup de grace wasn’t any martial arts technique, it was a classic homage to professional wrestling that came after the bell:

Get more on Jones-Cormier and the fight card’s complete results after the jump!

(Daniel was expecting more trash talk, more mind games. Instead, Jon began whistling a melody so beautiful that Daniel felt his heart might fold in on itself. And for four-and-a-half minutes, all he could do was stand there listening. / Photo via Getty)

Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier is the greatest UFC title fight/rivalry in a long-ass time, and it’s finally going to happen tonight in Las Vegas. After a rough 2014, we MMA fans needed this. We deserve this. The time is actually now, for once.

Our man Mike Fagan will be dropping round-by-round results from the “Jones vs. Cormier” PPV after the jump, beginning at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and follow us on twitter for additional commentary. Thanks for being here.

(We tried to give the Potato Awards a classier vibe this year. We failed.)

By the CagePotato Staff

Look, you already know how we feel about MMA awards ceremonies: They’re meaningless exercises tainted by personal bias and stupidity, in equal measures. The only thing that makes the Potato Awards different is that we’re completely honest about the fact that our awards are biased and stupid. But it’s the end of the year, and we have to acknowledge that somehow, right?

But years from now, we may look back at 2014 as an important turning point, thanks to some major developments that took place near the end of the year. Notably, the UFC’s Reebok uniform deal is poised to transform the sponsorship landscape, while the Le/Quarry/Fitch class-action lawsuit and the related suits thatcame out in its wake could drag out some long-hidden truths about the UFC’s finances. We don’t yet know if these developments will turn out to be good or bad overall, but MMA could be a lot more interesting in 2015.

As we enter a new year, let’s look back at the past 12 months that got us here — the highs, the lows, and the moments that were so “WTF?!” that they defy all judgment. Use the page links below to peruse our mostly-chronological list of 38 award categories, and thanks so much for sticking with CagePotato for another year.

Anyway, it’s worth a look if you have any patience left for Jones/Cormier pre-fight hype. There aren’t too many surprises here, but we do get an interesting look at Cormier’s training relationship with Khadzhimurat Gatsalov, the phenom Russian wrestler who defeated Cormier at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Plus: Some never-before-heard insults (“How much you weigh right now, fat fuck?”).

It also makes me wonder: If Jones and Cormier never brawled on stage, and never cursed each other out during that SportsCenter interview, how would the UFC promote this fight? Would it be enough that the two greatest light-heavyweights in the world were facing each other on January 3rd? How badly do we need bad blood?

The Grudge Match™ has been one of the most reliable marketing gimmicks of the Zuffa era — second only to “If ___ beats ___, then pound-for-pound.” — and surely a scheme that will likely earn Jones a hefty bump in his cut of the PPV revenue. But according to the champ himself, all the money in the world isn’t worth everyone knowing that he is a two-faced, fakey fakerson. (Ed note: Sorry, my 7-year-old nephew is in town for the holidays and keeps jacking my laptop.)

When I first saw [the now infamous ad for UFC 182] I was a little offended by it. That UFC — someone who is supposed to be backing my brand and making me look good — would put up something like that for the general public to see. I don’t think it’s really healthy for the world to see their champion — for the world to see UFC’s champion — saying I would kill someone. That really took me off guard. I didn’t really think it was in my best interest, but it was for UFC’s best interest, so I kind of had to swallow my pride. I said it.